Greenpeace is suing the Government in an attempt to stop any new deepwater
drilling off the coast of the Shetland Islands.

The campaign group said it had filed a claim at the Royal Courts of Justice seeking a ban on new activity until the causes of BP's Deepwater Horizon accident are fully understood.

More than 20 licences have been issued for new deepwater drilling this autumn, despite the Gulf of Mexico accident that killed 11 men and set off a giant oil spill.

Greenpeace's lawyers will argue the drill sites are too close to environmentally sensitive areas that are home to protected species. They will also claim the Government has failed to review environmental regulations since the Gulf of Mexico accident.

The Government said it had been notified by Greenpeace about the potential action, but had not been served papers.

John Sauven, Greenpeace executive director, said: "The Government is handing out oil drilling licences left, right and centre as if the Deepwater Horizon disaster never happened. And they've got to stop. The oil industry is drilling in riskier and more dangerous places in UK waters, where a spill could be a disaster for wildlife."

The UK doubled inspections after the Deepwater Horizon accident and the North Sea oil industry set up a group to look at their own practices. Individual companies have also been reviewing their processes, while insisting that Britain has the world's safest regime.

Anders Eldrup, chief executive of Denmark's state energy giant Dong, the largest deepwater licence holder off the Shetland Islands, told The Daily Telegraph there was no need for a ban.

"We've been looking carefully at our processes and there's a great difference between the way things are done in America and the North Sea, which is much stricter. We have been working through procedures once more and doing extra reviews and feel that Norway and the UK are safe."

Last month, Chevron has admitted its new deepwater drilling campaign off the Shetland Islands could cause an oil spill worse than BP's accident. The US oil giant believes that, in a worst-case scenario, the North Sea well could release 77,000 barrels a day – 25pc more than gushed into US waters this year.

The company doubled its worst possible forecast from 35,000 barrels per day, after reviewing its data in the light of BP's accident.